Housewives rarely think about how long to cook chicken breast. If the component is intended for preparing a salad, broth or cold appetizer, simply immerse it in cold water and wait until the meat turns white. After that, all that remains is to make sure that the product is ready and you can use it for its intended purpose. In fact, although all this is not troublesome, it is not very correct. Those who want to receive not just boiled preparation, but a tasty and healthy ingredient, need to learn a few rules and recommendations from experienced chefs. First, remember that chicken breast cooks for 30-40 minutes, after which it begins to dry out.

Features of the preparatory stage

Before you cook chicken breast, you need to buy it. Despite the fact that chilled meat is usually considered to be of higher quality and healthier than frozen meat, this case is an exception to the rule. Only if it is reliably known that the fresh product is no more than two days old, can it be purchased for making broth or salad. Otherwise, preference should be given to the frozen analogue. If you do not pay attention to this point, you can buy delicious-looking meat, which after cooking will begin to emit an unpleasant odor or become similar in texture to cardboard.

There are a few more features of the preparatory stage that you need to remember:

• Defrost the workpiece in the refrigerator or at room temperature away from heat sources. Using a microwave oven causes already lean meat to become even drier. Breasts for broth or salad are also not soaked in water. This approach deprives the product of useful components that pass into the liquid.

Tip: If you cut the breast on the bone before heat treatment, separating the meat from the breastbone, the broth will be richer and thicker. However, it will remain transparent. After manipulation, you should not try to remove the remaining meat from the bone base, they will still be too dry and tough.

• Before use, the workpieces are washed in cold water. If the recipe requires it, remove the skin. By the way, the absence of skin does not affect the taste and texture of the meat; the quality of the broth depends more on it.
• If you plan to make broth from chicken, then add cold water to the main component. In this case, you should not use high heat to bring the liquid to a boil; medium heat will be enough.
• Chicken intended for salad is poured with boiling water, after which the liquid is brought to a boil over high heat. This approach ensures rapid clotting of protein and blood and seals the beneficial components in the meat.

After the product is properly prepared, you can start boiling it. This is done in one of many ways.

Chicken breast in a pan can be boiled in one of two ways:

1. If you want to get tasty meat. Pour water into the pan, bring it to a boil, wait until it starts to boil. Dip the breast into the liquid, washed and dried with paper towels. As soon as the water boils again, remove the foam and add flavor enhancers (parsley, carrots, celery, laurel leaves). Reduce the heat to low and cook the component under the lid for 30-40 minutes. Remove the container from the heat, add salt and leave for another 20 minutes.
2. If you need to get a rich broth. In this case, you must initially add meat, salt and additional ingredients to the water. After the composition boils, remove the foam, reduce the heat and cover the container with a lid. With this approach, you can add 5-10 minutes to the processing to make the broth richer, but this will affect the quality of the chicken.

Young chicken or chicken meat takes even less time to cook. Usually 20-25 minutes are enough to bring the fibers to the desired degree of softness.

How to properly poach chicken?

Chicken that will be used in preparing a salad or appetizer can be poached, i.e. Boil in a minimum amount of liquid. This is done in one of the following ways:

• Wash the thawed or chilled breasts, dry them and place them in a saucepan. Salt the ingredients and sprinkle with lemon juice, then they will turn out to be a uniform white color. Pour boiling water or ready-made broth to a third of the height of the product. Cover the container with a lid and cook until tender over very low heat.
• Place parsley and celery roots and chopped carrots on the bottom of a small saucepan or stewpan. Place the breast on top and fill it with dry white wine or vegetable broth. Add salt, close the container with a lid and keep on low heat until the contents are ready.

With this approach, the chicken turns out very juicy and acquires a rich taste. The broth remaining after this treatment can be used to prepare various sauces and dressings.

Before you cook chicken breast using one of the modern gadgets, you need to read the instructions that come with it. Often you can find recommendations in it that can simplify the procedure for boiling the product.

• Double boiler. Rub the breast with salt and herbs, place in a steamer bowl and cook for about half an hour. Check the meat, if it is still tough, add 10 minutes.
• Multicooker. Cook the component in the usual way for 30 minutes, using the “Stew” mode. Or we choose the “Steamed” option for cooking chicken, but in this case we put the product in a special basket. In both cases, we use spices and salt at the very beginning.
• Microwave. Place the workpiece in a container of suitable volume, fill it with boiling water and cover with a lid. First, we carry out the treatment at maximum power for 10 minutes, then at medium power for 15 minutes. After this, there is no need to rush to get the chicken; it should be left for another 10 minutes.

If desired, even old chicken can be cooked deliciously. But it is better not to boil it, but to simmer it, moreover, in fresh milk with the addition of spices. Even steamed, it won’t turn out so tender and juicy.

Boiled chicken breast is an excellent dietary product that can be added to a salad or served with a side dish or sauce. By consuming tender pieces of boiled fillet, our body is enriched with sodium, cobalt, copper, chromium, magnesium, iodine, fluorine and zinc! To make boiled poultry meat juicy and soft, we will reveal unusual cooking secrets in our article!

How to cook chicken breast in a saucepan

When choosing a chicken breast, pay attention to the fact that the meat is fresh, without excess films, bones and foreign odors. This will allow you to reduce cooking time, your energy and get a truly tasty and satisfying dish! To boil the breast in a pan, we will need:

• Chicken breast – 400 g.
• Carrots – 1 piece.
• Onion – 1 piece, medium size.
• Pepper, salt and a couple of bay leaves.

Remove the skin from the breast and rinse well under running water. Place the poultry meat in a saucepan and add enough water to completely cover the meat. Place the pan over medium heat and wait until it boils. At the same time, remove any foam that forms with a spoon. When the chicken boils, add chopped carrots, onions, spices and bay leaves. Boil vegetables and meat over medium heat for 30-40 minutes, then remove the pan from the stove and let the broth brew for 10-15 minutes. Chicken breast is ready, bon appetit!

How to cook chicken breast in a slow cooker

With the advent of the “kitchen assistant”, cooking has become even easier, more enjoyable and faster! There are many recipes for cooking breasts in a slow cooker; we offer the basic recipe. Ingredients:

• Chicken breast – 400 g.
• 1 liter of boiling water.
• Salt, spices and spices to taste.

Pre-defrost the meat, rinse and rub with salt and spices. Place the breast in the “kitchen helper” bowl, pour boiling water over it and set the “Stew” mode for 30 minutes. After notifying the appliance about the end of cooking, open the lid and leave the meat to cool in the broth.

How to steam chicken breast

Steaming poultry is the healthiest, easiest and most practical way to cook! The finished fillet is soft, nutritious and very tasty! We will need:

• Chicken breast – 1 piece.
• Spices – fine salt, black or red pepper.
• Purified water – 1 liter.

Clean the meat, rinse and rub well with the selected spices. Pour 1 liter of water into the multicooker bowl and cover with a steaming container on top. Place chicken meat on a steamer container and cover with a lid. Set the “Steam cooking” mode and set the time to 40 minutes. To make the meat even tastier, housewives wrap the bird in foil or cling film and cook it in the same way.

How to cook chicken breast in the microwave

Poultry cooked in the microwave is in no way inferior in taste and juiciness to steamed meat. We will need:

• Chicken breast.
• Water.
• Salt.

Pre-defrost the meat, rinse and place in a deep bowl suitable for cooking in the microwave. Fill the bird with water so that it is completely covered, but there is a free 2-3 cm from the edge for the water to boil. Cover the container and cook for 15 minutes. You can replace the water with milk, then the chicken will turn out even softer and tastier! Bon appetit!

Chicken fillet is one of the most affordable, tasty and popular meat products with a high protein content and low calorie content, so in this article we will look at how many minutes and how to cook chicken fillet correctly so that it turns out soft, juicy and tasty.

How long does it take to cook chicken fillet?

The cooking time for chicken fillet mainly depends on the type of chicken meat (from broilers or country chickens), on the chosen cooking method and the size of the pieces during cooking (whole fillet is cooked or cut into pieces). Let's consider below how long you need to cook chicken fillet in different ways:

• How long to cook chicken fillet in a saucepan? After boiling water in a saucepan, boil whole chicken fillet for 20-25 minutes, cut into small pieces - an average of 15 minutes.
• How long to cook chicken fillet in soup? Cook chicken fillet cut into pieces in soup for 20 minutes after boiling water in a saucepan.
• How many minutes to cook chicken fillet in a slow cooker? In a multicooker in the “Cooking” mode, chicken fillet can be cooked in 30 minutes.

Having learned how long to cook chicken fillet until cooked, we will now consider in more detail what are the secrets and features of cooking it in a saucepan and slow cooker so that the fillet turns out soft, juicy and tasty.

How to cook chicken fillet in a saucepan?

Perhaps the most popular way to cook chicken breast fillet is to cook it in a saucepan on the stove, so let’s look at step by step how to properly boil chicken fillet in a saucepan:

• The fillet must be defrosted in advance before cooking, but it is advisable that it be defrosted at room temperature, in the refrigerator, or in the microwave. It is not advisable to defrost chicken fillet by filling it completely with water.
• Thawed chicken fillet must be rinsed under running water, cut into pieces (if necessary) and placed in a pan.
• Pour the chicken meat with cold water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, then skim off the resulting foam with a spoon and reduce the heat so that the water does not boil too much.
• Add bay leaves (1-2 pcs.), peppercorns (black and allspice), salt to taste and 1 peeled onion to the water. Thanks to these additives, the fillet will turn out tasty and aromatic after cooking.
• Cook the fillet for 20-25 minutes after boiling water in a saucepan (if the fillet is whole), or 15 minutes if it is cut into pieces.
• We check the readiness of the fillet by cutting one of the largest pieces (if the meat is white inside and soft, the fillet is ready, if it is pink or reddish inside, you need to boil it for another 5-7 minutes).
• Take the finished boiled fillet out of the pan and wait until it cools at room temperature. Now you can eat it with any side dish, or add it to your favorite salad!

Note: when cooking fillet for salad, and also if you want to get a clear, beautiful broth, it is better to salt the fillet at the end of cooking (5-7 minutes before the end of cooking).

How to cook chicken fillet in a slow cooker?

You can quickly cook juicy and tasty fillets in a slow cooker, and the cooking process itself is not much different from cooking chicken in a saucepan:

• First of all, defrost, rinse under water and cut (if necessary) the selected chicken fillet.
• Place the fillet in a slow cooker, fill with cold water so that it completely covers the meat, add salt, seasonings (bay leaf, peppercorns), as well as peeled onions and small carrots (the meat will be more tasty and aromatic after cooking).
• Set the “Cooking” mode and the cooking time to 30 minutes, turn on the multicooker.
• After the water in the multicooker boils, you can open it and remove the resulting foam with a spoon, and then continue cooking.
• After the sound signal, we check the cooked fillet for readiness and if it is cooked and white inside, remove it from the multicooker.

In conclusion to the article, it can be noted that knowing how to cook chicken fillet deliciously so that it turns out soft and juicy, you can always quickly prepare chicken breast fillet at home for salad, side dish and other dishes. We leave our useful tips and reviews on how long to cook chicken fillet until done in a saucepan and slow cooker in the comments to the article and share it on social networks if it was useful to you.

Do not wash chicken breasts before boiling them. You may be used to washing chicken before cooking, but doing so can spread harmful bacteria around the kitchen. When washing chicken, water splashes around, causing bacteria to end up on the sink, counter, your hands, and clothes. It is better not to wash chicken to avoid food poisoning.

• Raw chicken can contain harmful bacteria such as salmonella, a tiny amount of which is enough to make you sick, so don't take any chances.

Cut the meat in half, into quarters or into cubes to help it cook faster. Although you can do without this, you will greatly reduce the cooking time. Cut the chicken breast into smaller pieces using a sharp knife. The pieces can be any size, depending on what dish you are preparing.

• If you're going to shred the chicken breast next, don't cut it into too small pieces as it will make it harder to shred later. It makes sense to cut the meat into very small pieces if you are going to add it to a salad or stuffing.
• Use a cutting board specifically designed for meat to reduce the risk of contaminating other foods. Harmful bacteria, such as salmonella, can remain on your board even if you wash it. If you then cut vegetables on this board, salmonella may get on them.

Did you know? Large pieces of chicken can take up to 30 minutes to cook, while smaller pieces will be ready in just 10 minutes.

Place meat in a medium to large saucepan. First, place the chicken in the pan, and then fill it with water or broth. Arrange the meat in the bottom of the pan in a single layer.

• If the meat cannot be spread out in one layer, it is better to take a larger pan. Otherwise, the chicken may cook worse.